The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun

Sunday, May 16, 2026--San Antonio

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun was written 5 years ago.  I found it on a list of suggested books for summer reading.  It's a romantic comedy based around the production of a reality TV show where the "prince" is expected to find his "princess" among 20 women competing to be the one he asks to marry him.  The show has been made for almost 2 decades and is a little "tired."  Everyone knows that it is always white, religious men and women participating, that only a very small number of matches have been successful over time, and that former contestants have revealed that they were never looking for marriage or everlasting love but participated for various other reasons--to promote their podcast, to possibly become famous and get better job offers, to take advantage of the travel aspects of the show (which goes to various parts of the world during each season), etc.  This year's prince is a man who was a co-owner of a highly successful tech company where he did the behind-the-scenes work like programming to make it successful.  But his partner in the company greatly embarrassed him by exposing his awkwardness (OCD), anxiety, and related social interaction problems and then fired him.  He can't get another job in IT because of the bad publicity and world-of-mouth from that incident.  He has signed up to go on this show to try to find a way to reintroduce himself to the world, especially the IT world where he would like to work again.  Things are awkward from the beginning of the shooting of the show because of his mental and social problems, but his handler (the producer assigned to be with him and guide him throughout the production period of 3 months) immediately realizes that the problems he has can be overcome if he can calm him, get him to open up about what is happening, get him to trust him, etc.  The book carries the reader through the various weeks of production and the problems that are occurring.  The questions that are always present:  1)  Will he be able to avoid being awkward on the show?  Will the show be interesting enough for audiences enjoy if he cannot come across and warm and caring?  Will he be able to fall in love with one of the women?  Will everything fall apart?  And most of all, will his handler be able to do his job which seems almost impossible with the problems the prince has?  It isn't great literature, but it's a fun story to read.  I gave it 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

White River Crossing by Ian McGuire

Friday, May 15, 2026--San Antonio

White River Crossing by Ian McGuire is historical fiction set in far north central Canada in the late 1700s.  The Hudson Bay Company has an outpost there for trading for pelts brought in by European and Native American hunters.  The story revolves around multiple people--the manager of the company's outpost, his second in command, the manager's young nephew, the post's doctor, a former sailor who came to work for the company after the death of his only friend, and one of chiefs of a trusted nearby native tribe along with his wife, son, and son's wife.  A block of quartz with two veins of pure gold have been brought to the manager of the post who decides that he can trust the person bringing it is telling the truth about where he says it is from and how much is there.  The area is much further north in the Barrens where the Eskimos (considered to be a dangerous group) live.  Realizing the value of the find if there is gold there and what it could mean to him personally, the manager decides to manage the situation privately (off the company books, but paying the man who brought the block with goods from the company's stores while hiding the missing items from the company records).  He makes a plan to send 3 men he can trust (his assistant, his nephew, and the former sailor) there with the two northern Indian couples as their support to find the gold if it exists and to mine it during the winter season when getting there and back is easiest because of frozen river crossings and it being the "off season" when ships cannot come and go to the post to pick up pelts and unload supplies which means the men are not needed at the post.  The problems with the excursion begin because of various reasons, but the two main ones are that the son of the chief who is a hothead and believes he is stronger and smarter than everyone else and that he is never honored appropriately and the assistant manager who is a bully and enjoys challenging, dominating, and laughing at people.  Only one person makes it back to the company at the end of the season.  Because the manager planned the excursion as a way of taking advantage of the opportunity for himself, he asks that there be no leak of information about what happened.  But that just raises questions among all the other men at the post who knew those who went (on a trip they were told was for investigating the news of a copper mine possibility to keep everyone from rushing off to find gold themselves) wonder why all the secrecy and why only one person returned.  The details of the story are interesting and actually fascinating.  It's a short novel, only 288 pages.  I gave it 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

This Is Where the Serpent Lives by Daniyal Mueenuddin

Friday, May 8, 2026

This Is Where the Serpent Lives by Daniyal Mueenuddin is a very good novel.  Like almost all novels set in Southeast Asia (Pakistan in this particular case), it deals with corrpution, abuse of power, the way the caste system holds people back, and disapointment and failure at trying to get ahead in society while assuming that one is owed more in life and is justified in trying to take it illegally.  The story is built around one of the major landowner/political families.  They have an impressive mansion in the city and a huge farm with and impressive mansion there, too.  The farm has always been run like in feudal times with peasants living in a village there while being totally dependent upon the landowner, being taken advantage of by the landowner, and often abused by him.  The main characters are two of the peasants from different generations who have shown themselves to be worthy of trust, two generations of the landowners, and the farm manager for both of those generations.  One of the favored peasants has become the personal driver of the landowners--first the one of his youth and then of the son who has inherited the estate later.  The other favored peasant has proven himself as intellectually talented and has become a favorite of the wife of the new generation of the owners.  Times seem to be changing in general for many Pakistanis.  The newer generations of landowners/politicians have been in the USA or England for higher education and are not as crude nor as willfully mean toward their villagers and many people living in the cities seem to be progressing better economically.  For landowners, their experiences in Western societies and aversion to the harsh tactics used by their parents with their servants have made it easier for the persons they trust.  Stealing through corrutpion is rising to higher lives as those who become more educated or successful strive to take more and more advantage opportunities to do so in hopes of becoming rich themselves.  The book isn't a specific story just about these specific characters, it is a story of what life has been like for generations in India, Pakistan, and other southeast Asian countries and of how resistent the rulers are to change there even though resentment continues to build among the peasants about their state in life.  I gave the book 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

Python's Kiss by Louise Erdrich

Tuesday, Apr. 28, 2026--San Antonio

Phython's Kiss by Louise Erdrich is a collection of short stories.  Each is unique, and all of them are well written.  The author is of Native American Heritage, so some of the stories relate to their life experiences and to their native beliefs.  One of the stories that sticks most in my mind is about a ferel cat that a man takes into his apartment to try to tame because he is concerned about the affects that ferel cats are having on bird life.  He especially wants to save a Painted Bunting in his neighborhood, but he has met his match with this particular cat.  He has to rig up a system using two lanyards and a kettlebell so that the bathroom door will stay shut by force keeping the cat there after he has come home to find damage by it in the rest of his apartment.  But all of the stories are worth reading.  I gave the book 4 stars out of 5. 

Cafe Con Lychee by Emery Lee

Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2026--San Antonio

Cafe Con Lychee by Emily was a disappointment to me.  The concept of the story is interesting, but it suffers, I think, from poor writing.  I knew within the first 20% of the book what the ending would be (and I'm not referring to the most obvious part of the two main characters becoming a couple in love which every reader should expect in this type of a book).  The route there was far too long with too many repeated examples of Theo being pissy in thoughts, words, and behavior;  and of both Theo and Gabi showing far more immaturity and lack of seld-assurance than should be the cast for intelligent 11th graders (maybe the characters should have been two eighth graders about to move from middle school to high school rather than 11th graders about to move on from high school).  Since it is supposed to be a young adult romance novel, it sure didn't let the romance develop much at all; it essentially ended within a few pages of the first signs of romance and only one kiss.   Maybe the author was afraid the book would be banned if it were written about the gay romance instead about school rules and regulations, problems with local businesses competing with new competition not owned by locals, so many side friendship relationships that all seemed to have more problems than they were worth, the drawbacks of being children of ethnic parents who are set in their ways and expectations, etc.  I made it through the whole book and judged it to be worth no more than 3 stars out of 5.  (That's somewhat equivalent to a student making a C in school today when probably 85% or more of all grades given are often A's.)

Brawler by Lauren Groff

Saturday, Apr. 18, 2026--San Antonio

Brawler by Lauren Groff is a book of marvelous short stories.  The topics may at times be disturbing, but the joy in reading them is found in their construction.  She is a miracle worker when it comes to composing sentences in unique ways that would stop me from reading for a mement to admire and appreciate them.  I highly recommend this book and gave it 5 stars out of 5.

The Husbands by Holly Gramazio

Monday, Apr. 13, 2026--San Antonio

The Husbands by Holly Gramazio was named a best book of 2024 by many sites.  I found it very enjoyable to read for the most part with some humorous moments throughout, but it became a bit tedius during the last third of the book.  It's the story of a woman who has delayed marriage and is unsure whether she ever wants to be married.   But one day she returns home and discovers a husband in her home.  Her friends know him, her phone has photos of their marriage, and the phone has texts between them.  Some erratic things seem to be happening in her attic--lights buzzing and brightening, so she sent her husband up to check on it.  He didn't come back.  Instead another husband came down.  In time, she figured out that if she didn't like a new husband, she could create a reset by sending the husband back into the attic.  But not a reset to the old situation; instead, a another new husband would come down.  She spends a year sending husbands back and getting new ones.  Occasionally she gets one she wants to try to see if she wants to keep him, but eventually she changes her mind or a husband she likes goes into the attic on his own for sme reason and is then gone forever.  (Except, as she is often exchanges husbands many times a day before she gets one she wants to allow to stay, she also discovers that occasionally one recycles back.)  Only a few of the husbands are allowed to stay more than 1 night.  Within a week or too, she usually has decided that he must go for one reason or another.  She learns that no one will believe her if she tries to tell them what is happening until one of the husbands becomes frustrated with her and starts climbing back up into the attic without any directions from her.  Confused about how he seems to know that it is the way to escape her, she stops him and he reveals that he is a "traveling" husband who has learned that he can leave any relationship by reentering the place he has arrived.  They realize that it is nice to communicate with someone who understands each other's situation, and they make a plan to try to stay in contact after his departure due to the fact that they have permanent email addresses that don't change and that her phone number never changes although his does.  He can call her from his new "unknown" number each time, and if she needs to reach him before he calls, she can write to his email address.  Anyway, his humor is the best part toward the end of the book because the carousel of husbands becomes rather tedius for both the reader and her (along with my frustration with some rather stupid decisions made by the the woman).  It all comes to a satisfying conclusion.  I gave the book 4 stars out of 5 although I think that the last third deserved a half of a star lower rating.